Homemade Marshmallow Peeps

As a P.K. (Preacher’s Kid in layperson speak), Easter was always a bit of a stressful day. Everyone would throw on their best dress; Mom would force me into some pastel sweater or children’s clip-on bow tie. You know the drill. All of this didn’t seem to matter though because, well, PEEPS®! Those delicious, sugar-coated sugar puffs made everything juuuuust fine.

Having made marshmallows before, I though I would see if I could birth a few beloved baby chicks of my own in the kitchen.

Spoiler alert: IT WORKED! And I have to say… I even think mine taste better than the commercial store-bought version.

I would recommend buying a few (boxes) at the store to compare with. You can’t have too many!

I started the process with regular granulated sugar. I used a cup in each of three Ziplock bags (good ones… not cheap thin ones, as they will break). Drop some gel coloring into the sugar, seal them up and go watch your favorite show. Maybe take some time to read our older posts or send us a hello on Facebook! This is going to take a bit.

Work the coloring (liquid, gel, powder– all work fine) into the sugar. Toss it around, roll it, throw it. Whatever you need to do. After several minutes, you will see perfectly-colored coating sugar. Who needs to go spend $5 on a tiny bottle again!?

Be sure and sift the sugar fairly well to get rid of all of the larger clumps. Peep poop, if you will. Once you have made the marshmallow mixture (recipe below!), timing is the only thing you have to be careful about. If your mixture is too warm or doesn’t have enough air in it (eg: didn’t mix long enough), you will have a hard time getting the chicks to keep shape.

You can see below how to pipe the chick shapes. This is a good example of a mixture that is slightly too warm. I let the bag sit for a minute or two before piping the rest. Luckily, they held their shape better.

I piped my marshmallow goodies in a row of 5 chicks touching on the sides. I just couldn’t imagine eating these without pulling them apart and having that exposed side. It just wouldn’t have felt the same. Spoon more of the homemade colored sugar all over and let them rest.

I may have not waited for these to cool and rest completely for the 30-40 minutes that I recommend. They were DELICIOUS! So soft and fluffy. The outer coating sugar was just perfect. Not too fine and just about the perfect color to bring back all of those sweet holiday memories, colored tongue and all.

At the end of the piping bag, I managed to squeeze out two smaller chicks. I mean, why not make a blue Peeps family? Seems legit to me.

All in all, I was incredibly happy with how these turned out. The possibilities of shapes and styles are endless when you are able to just pipe out whatever you want to try. You’ll certainly see these chirping up again on the blog.

I really should have measurements for that. Thanks for asking. I’ll update the recipe to include this. One packet would be 2 1/2 teaspoons (or 7g). Unflavored is preferable for this. Enjoy! Please tag us @southernfatty if you post any pictures!

Can you use mols to make the shapes you want? I have a silicon mold that would make great shapes. I figured it would have to have a little cooking spray, but didn’t know if it would melt the marshmallow.

Great question. The best way that I have found is to put them in an airtight container in the fridge (or bag, even), but add some powdered sugar and cornstarch mix (just a bit of starch in sugar is fine – don’t need to measure it out) to throw into the bottom. This will keep some of the extra moisture away. Should be good to go!

I am going to try this!! My friend who I haven’t gotten to see for 3 years is coming and this is her favorite treat, I think I’ll try to spell her name for the shapes. Thank you for posting, home made is so much better than store bought.